Game classifications
This video will go over some of the things I will be talking about in this section. =Game Ratings (classifications)= this section will tell you all you need to know about the ratings or classifications that are in Australia. G The G classification is suitable for everyone. G products may contain classifiable elements such as language and themes that are very mild in impact. However, some G-classified films or computer games may contain content that is not of interest to children. PG The impact of PG (Parental Guidance) classified films and computer games should be no higher than mild, but they may contain content that children find confusing or upsetting and may require the guidance of parents and guardians. They may, for example, contain classifiable elements such as language and themes that are mild in impact. M Films and computer games classified M (Mature) contain content of a moderate impact and are recommended for teenagers aged 15 years and over. Children under 15 may legally access this material because it is an advisory category. However, M classified films and computer games may include classifiable elements such as violence and nudity of moderate impact that are not recommended for children under 15 years. MA15+ MA 15+ classified material contains strong content and is legally restricted to persons 15 years and over. It may contain classifiable elements such as sex scenes and drug use that are strong in impact. A person may be asked to show proof of their age before hiring or purchasing an MA 15+ film or computer game. Cinema staff may also request that the person show proof of their age before allowing them to watch an MA 15+ film. Children under the age of 15 may not legally watch, buy or hire MA 15+ classified material unless they are in the company of a parent or adult guardian. Children under 15 who go to the cinema to see an MA 15+ film must be accompanied by a parent or adult guardian for the duration of the film. The parent or adult guardian must also purchase the movie ticket for the child. R18 Movies or games with this rating should never be given to a child under the age of 18. Things with this rating have constant and gory violence and lots of sex scenes. this classification is new to Australia and allowed games that were previously refused classification. =Game Genre= Action An action game requires players to use quick reflexes, accuracy, and timing to overcome obstacles. It is perhaps the most basic of gaming genres, and certainly one of the broadest. Action games tend to have gameplay with emphasis on combat. There are many subgenres of action games, such as fighting games and first-person shooters. Ball and paddle The predecessor of all console game genres, a ball-and-paddle game was the first game implemented on a home console (Pong). Later renditions have included Breakout, which was a driving influence behind the Apple II computer, and Arkanoid, an arcade staple for many years. A version of Breakout called Block Buster was also packaged with the first handheld console with swappable cartridges, the Microvision. Beat 'em up and hack and slash Beat 'em up and hack and slash games have an emphasis on one-on-many close quarters combat, beating large numbers of computer-controlled enemies. Gameplay involves the player fighting through a series of increasingly difficult levels. The sole distinction between these two genres are that beat 'em ups feature hand-to-hand combat, and hack and slash games feature melee weaponry, particularly bladed weapons. Both genres feature little to no use of firearms or projectile combat. This genre became popular in 1987 with the release of Double Dragon, leading to a large number of similar games. The fighting style is usually simpler than for fighting games. In recent times, the genre has largely merged with that of action-adventure, with side-scrolling levels giving way to more open three-dimensional areas, and melee combat co-existing with shooting and puzzle elements. Traditional Fighting game Fighting games emphasize one-on-one combat between two characters, one of which may be computer controlled. These games are usually played by linking together long chains of button presses on the controller to use physical attacks to fight. Many of the movements employed by the characters are usually dramatic and occasionally physically impossible. Combat is always one-on-one. This genre first appeared in 1976 with the release of Sega's Heavyweight Boxing and later became a phenomenon, particularly in the arcades, with the release of Street Fighter II. Later, in 1992, the Mortal Kombat series debuted and brought with it new features for future fighting games, features such as a dedicated block button; the performance of a "finishing move" on a defeated opponent; and in-game secrets such as hidden and otherwise unplayable characters. MOBA Multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA), also known as action real-time strategy (ARTS), is a subgenre of the real-time strategy (RTS) genre of video games, in which often two teams of players compete with each other in discrete games, with each player controlling a single character through an RTS-style interface. It differs from traditional RTS games in that there is no unit construction and players control just one character. In this sense, it is a fusion of action games and real-time strategy games. The genre emphasizes cooperative team-play; players select and control one "hero", a powerful unit with various abilities and advantages to form a team's overall strategy. The objective is to destroy the opponents' main structure with the assistance of periodically spawned computer-controlled units that march towards the enemy's main structure via paths referred to as "lanes". Notable examples include Defense of the Ancients, League of Legends, and Smite. Platform game Platform games (platformers) are a subgenre of action game. These games involve travelling between platforms by jumping (very occasionally other means are substituted for jumping, like swinging or bouncing, but these are considered variations on the same mechanic). Other traditional elements include running and climbing ladders and ledges. Platformers frequently borrow elements from other genres like fighting and shooting (such as the Castlevania series, which features role-playing elements). They are most often associated with iconic video game mascots like Donkey Kong, Sonic the Hedgehog, Mario, Megaman, Samus, Crash Bandicoot and Rayman, though platform games may have any theme. The term itself first came into use to describe any game in which the player travels between platforms, and Space Panic, a 1980 arcade release, has been cited as the first platform game for featuring obstacles and gaps to jump over, making it a platformer by the modern sense of the term. Pitfall! can also be classified as an early platformer. Traditionally, platform games were 2D, with players viewing the environment from a profile, "cutaway" perspective. This could be done easily with sprites and was simple for early computers to handle. 3D computer graphics have opened these games up for movement in all directions. However, 3D perspectives make it more difficult to judge distance, which is an important part of platformers. Because of this, many 3D platformers have a player character's shadow always be cast straight down, tracking their location on the ground while the character is jumping and making it easier to judge where you are and where you will land. At their peak, platformers were the most popular games on the market. The genre experienced a sharp decline, from 15% of total market share in 1998 to 2% in 2002. Although there are many 3D platform games, few have proven to have the universal appeal of their older games. However, this could merely be a result of a changing market and an increase in game variety as many 3D action games use sparse platform elements such as climbing or jumping. Shooter A shooter game focuses primarily on combat involving projectile weapons, such as guns and missiles. They can be divided into 2D, first-person and third-person shooters, depending on the camera perspective. Some first-person shooters use light gun technology. First-person shooter First-person shooter video games, commonly known as FPSs, emphasize shooting and combat from the perspective of the character controlled by the player. This perspective is meant to give the player the feeling of "being there", and allows the player to focus on aiming. Most FPSs are very fast-paced and require quick reflexes on high difficulty levels. The fast-paced and 3D elements required to create an effective looking FPS made the genre technologically unattainable for most consumer hardware systems until the early 1990s. Wolfenstein 3D was the first widely known FPS, and Doom was the first major breakthrough in graphics; it used a number of clever techniques to make the game run fast enough to play on consumer-grade machines. Since the release of Doom, most FPS games now have a multi-player feature to allow competition between multiple players. Massively multiplayer online first person shooter Massively multiplayer online first person shooter games (MMOFPS) are a genre of massively multiplayer online games that combines first-person shooter gameplay with a virtual world in which a large number of players can interact over the Internet. Whereas standard FPS games limit the number of players able to compete in a multiplayer match (generally the maximum is 64, due to server capacity), hundreds of players can battle each other on the same server in an MMOFPS. An example of a MMOFPS is PlanetSide 2. Shoot 'em up A shoot 'em up, or arcade shooter, is a genre of shooter game in which the player controls a character or vehicle (most often a spacecraft) and shoots large numbers of enemies, while dodging incoming projectiles. Games in this genre call for fast reactions and memorization of enemy patterns. These games are played from either top-down or side-view perspective. The genre became prolific with the release of Space Invaders in 1978 and this popularity continued as the genre evolved throughout the 1980s and 90s. Shoot 'em ups currently retain a niche appeal, particularly in Japan. The roots of the genre can be traced back to Spacewar!, developed in 1962 and later released as an arcade game. Tactical shooter Tactical shooters are variations on the first-person shooter genre, which focus on realism and emphasize tactical play such as planning and teamwork (for example, co-ordination and specialised roles) such as in Ghost Recon and SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs. In single player modes, the player commands a squad of AI controlled characters in addition to their own; in multi-player modes, players must work in teams to win the game. Winning is likely to be dependent on capturing an objective of some sort rather than gaining the most kills. Third-person shooter Third-person shooter video games, known as TPSs or 3PSs, emphasize shooting and combat from a camera perspective in which the player character is seen at a distance. This perspective gives the player a wider view of their surroundings as opposed to the limited viewpoint of first-person shooters. Furthermore, third-person shooters allow for more elaborate movement such as rolling or diving, as opposed to simple jumping and crouching common in FPS games. Greater interaction with the player's environment is often possible. The emphasis remains on shooting, however; these games lack the platforming and puzzle elements of action-adventure shooting games. Some 3PSs have a function that allows you to switch to first-person in-game, such as in the "Star Wars Battlefront" and classic Ratchet And Clank series. Third person shooters have recently begun incorporating dedicated cover systems, an example of which would be Gears of War. Other genres of games have begun incorporating elements of third person shooters, such as the RPG Mass Effect. Action-Adventure Action-adventure games combine elements of their two component genres, typically featuring long-term obstacles that must be overcome using a tool or item as leverage (which is collected earlier), as well as many smaller obstacles almost constantly in the way, that require elements of action games to overcome. Action-adventure games tend to focus on exploration and usually involve item gathering, simple puzzle solving, and combat. "Action-adventure" has become a label which is sometimes attached to games which do not fit neatly into another well known genre. The first action-adventure game was the Atari 2600 game Adventure (1979). It was directly inspired by the original text adventure, Colossal Cave Adventure. In the process of adapting a text game to a console with only a joystick for control, designer Warren Robinett created a new genre. Because of their prevalence on video game consoles and the absence of typical adventure games, action-adventure games are often confusingly called "adventure games" by gamers. Stealth game Stealth games are a somewhat recent subgenre, sometimes referred to as "sneakers" or "creepers" to contrast with the action-oriented "shooter" subgenre. These games tend to emphasize subterfuge and precision strikes over the more overt mayhem of shooters, for example, the Sly Cooper series. Survival horror Survival horror games focus on fear and attempt to scare the player via traditional horror fiction elements such as atmospherics, death, the undead, blood and gore. One crucial gameplay element in many of these games is the low quantity of ammunition, or number of breakable melee weapons. A notable example is Silent Hill and Resident Evil. Adventure Adventure games were some of the earliest games created, beginning with the text adventure Colossal Cave Adventure in the 1970s. That game was originally titled simply "Adventure," and is the namesake of the genre. Over time, graphics have been introduced to the genre and the interface has evolved. Unlike adventure films, adventure games are not defined by story or content. Rather, adventure describes a manner of gameplay without reflex challenges or action. They normally require the player to solve various puzzles by interacting with people or the environment, most often in a non-confrontational way. It is considered a "purist" genre and tends to exclude anything which includes action elements beyond a mini game. Because they put little pressure on the player in the form of action-based challenges or time constraints, adventure games have had the unique ability to appeal to people who do not normally play video games. The genre peaked in popularity with the 1993 release of Myst, the best-selling PC game of all time up to that point. The simple point and click interface, detailed worlds and casual pace made it accessible, and its sense of artistic surrealism caused news outlets such as Wired Magazine, The New York Times and the San Francisco Chronicle to declare that the gaming industry had matured. It had four proper sequels, but none managed to experience the same level of success. The success of Myst also inspired many others to create similar games with first person perspectives, surreal environments and minimal or no dialogue, but these neither recaptured the success of Myst nor of earlier personality-driven adventures. In the late 1990s the genre suffered a large drop in popularity, mass-market releases became rare, and many proclaimed the adventure game to be dead. More accurately, it has become a niche genre. Adventure games are not entirely uncommon, but they tend to be very low budget in anticipation of modest sales. The genre was somewhat rejuvenated with the release of The Longest Journey in 1999, which emphasized stronger story elements and more interaction with different characters. A recent resurgence of adventure games on Nintendo consoles might signify a new interest in the genre. Role-Playing Role-playing video games draw their gameplay from traditional role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons. Most of these games cast the player in the role of one or more "adventurers" who specialize in specific skill sets (such as melee combat or casting magic spells) while progressing through a predetermined storyline. Many involve manoeuvring these character(s) through an overworld, usually populated with monsters, that allows access to more important game locations, such as towns, dungeons, and castles. Since the emergence of affordable home computers coincided with the popularity of paper and pencil role-playing games, this genre was one of the first in video games and continues to be popular today. Gameplay elements strongly associated with RPGs, such as statistical character development through the acquisition of experience points, have been widely adapted to other genres such as action-adventure games. Though nearly all of the early entries in the genre were turn-based games, many modern role-playing games progress in real-time. Thus, the genre has followed the strategy game's trend of moving from turn-based to real-time combat. The move to real-time combat began with the release of Square's (now Square Enix's) Final Fantasy IV, the first game to use the Active Time Battle system; this was quickly followed by truly real-time role-playing games such as the Mana series, Soul Blazer and Ultima VII. Some throwbacks to older turn based system did exist such as the Golden Sun series for Game Boy Advance. Western RPGs and Japanese RPGs (JRPGs) Cultural differences in role-playing video games have caused RPGs to tend towards two sets of characteristics sometimes referred to as Western and Japanese RPGs (also referred to as "JRPG" or "JRPGs"). The first (Western RPGs) often involves the player creating a character and a non-linear storyline along which the player makes his own decisions. In the second type (JRPGs), the player controls a party of predefined characters through a dramatically scripted linear storyline (though there are additional features such as Xenoblade Chronicles which contains action elements and sandbox environments, and The Last Story which incorporates stealth gameplay and strategy). There are described advantages to -and dedicated fans of- each system, including fans of Western RPGs in East Asia and Japanese RPGs in Europe/North America. Western RPGs include the Fallout series and Elder Scrolls series, while JRPGs include the Final Fantasy series and Dragon Quest series. Role-playing Choices Some RPGs give the player several choices in how their story will unfold. Typically the player can have an effect on whether the enemies in the game will be taken out lethally or non-lethally. This is very popular because it makes the player have to deal with the consequences of their own choices whenever they fail to save someone or don't get the ending they desired, for example. This makes for a much more interactive experience between gamers and gameplay, also explaining their popularity. Some notable examples are the Mass Effect and the Elder Scrolls series. Use of fantasy in RPGs Due to RPG origins with Dungeons and Dragons and other pen and paper role-playing games, the most popular setting for RPGs by far is a fantasy world, usually with heavy medieval European influences with Diablo series (by Blizzard Entertainment), Final Fantasy series, Elder Scrolls series and Baldur's Gate series (all different kinds of RPGs) all sharing a basic fantasy setting. However exceptions do exist, with some more notable ones being the east Asian Jade Empire setting, and the science fiction settings of Knights of the Old Republic and Mass Effect by Bioware. The Fallout series is set in a post-apocalyptic retro-futuristic America in which nuclear war destroyed a world in which culture had never advanced beyond that of the 1950s. Sandbox RPGs Sandbox RPGs or Open World allow the player a huge amount of freedom and usually contain a somewhat realistic free-roaming (meaning the player is not confined to a single path restricted by rocks or fences etc.) world. Sandbox RPGs are almost always western rather than Japanese and contain similarities to other sandbox games such as the Grand Theft Auto series with a large number of interactable NPCs, large amount of content and typically some of the largest worlds to explore and longest playtimes of all RPGs due to an impressive amount of secondary content not critical to the game's main storyline. Sandbox RPGs often attempt to emulate an entire region of their setting. Popular examples of this small subgenre include Ultima series by Origin Systems, Wasteland by Interplay Entertainment, System Shock 2 by Irrational Games and Looking Glass Studios, Deus Ex by Ion Storm, The Elder Scrolls and Fallout series by Bethesda Softworks and Interplay Entertainment, Fable by Lionhead Studios, Minecraft owned by Microsoft, and the Gothic series by Piranha Bytes. Action RPGs The action role-playing game or action RPG is a type of role-playing video game which incorporates elements from action games or action-adventure games. The first action role-playing games were produced by Nihon Falcom in the 1980s, such as the Dragon Slayer series and Ys series. Later so-called "Diablo clones" are also part of this genre. Although the precise definition of the genre varies, the typical action RPG features a heavy emphasis on combat, often simplifying or removing non-combat attributes and statistics and the effect they have on the character's development. Additionally, combat always takes place using a real-time system (hence the "action") that relies on the player's ability to perform particular actions with speed and accuracy to determine success, rather than mainly using the player character's attributes to determine this. Typically action RPGs focus more on the collection of randomized treasure than story progression that is found in other types of RPGs. MMORPGs Massively multiplayer online role-playing games, or MMORPGs, emerged in the mid to late 1990s as a commercial, graphical variant of text-based MUDs, which had existed since 1978. By and large, MMORPGs feature the usual RPG objectives of completing quests and strengthening one's player character, but involve up to hundreds of players interacting with each other on the same persistent world in real-time. The massively multiplayer concept was quickly combined with other genres. Fantasy MMORPGs like The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar, remain the most popular type of MMOG, with the most popular "pay-to-play" game being World of Warcraft (by Blizzard Entertainment), which holds over 60% of the MMORPG market, and the most popular free game being RuneScape (by Jagex), yet other types of MMORPG are appearing. Sci-fi MMORPGs, which began with Phantasy Star Online, hold a smaller part of the MMOG market, with the popular space sci-fi game EVE Online being the most notable. Other massively multiplayer online games which do not have a conventional RPG setting include Second Life and Ingress. Simulation Simulation video games is a diverse super-category of games, generally designed to closely simulate aspects of a real or fictional reality. Construction and management simulation A sample city from Lincity NG Construction and management simulations (or CMSs) are a type of simulation game which task players to build, expand or manage fictional communities or projects with limited resources. In city-building games the player acts as overall planner or leader to meet the needs and wants of game characters by initiating structures for food, shelter, health, spiritual care, economic growth, etc. Success is achieved when the city budget makes a growing profit and citizens experience an upgraded lifestyle in housing, health, and goods. While military development is often included, the emphasis is on economic strength. Perhaps the most known game of this type is SimCity, which is still popular and has had great influence on later city-building games. SimCity, however, also belongs to the God Games genre since it gives the player god-like abilities in manipulating the world. Caesar was a long-running series in this genre, with the original game spawning three sequels. Business simulation games generally attempt to simulate an economy or business, with the player controlling the economy of the game. A government simulation game (or "political game") involves the simulation of the policies, government or politics of a country, but typically excludes warfare. Recently, these types of games have gained the moniker "serious game". Life simulation Life simulation games (or artificial life games) involve living or controlling one or more artificial lives. A life simulation game can revolve around individuals and relationships, or it could be a simulation of an ecosystem. Biological simulations may allow the player to experiment with genetics, survival or ecosystems, often in the form of an educational package. An early example is SimLife, while relatively recent ones are Jurassic Park:Operation Genesis and Spore. In other educational simulations such as Wolf, the player "lives the life" of an individual animal in a relatively realistic way. Hailed as one of the greatest life simulation games, however, is Creatures, Creatures 2, Creatures 3, where the player breeds generations of a species in a hugely detailed ecosystem. Unlike other genres of games, god games often do not have a set goal that allows a player to win the game. The focus of a god game tends to be control over the lives of people, anywhere from micromanaging a family (SIMS) to overseeing the rise of a civilization. Pet-raising simulations (or digital pets) focus more on the relationship between the player and one or few life forms. They are often more limited in scope than other biological simulations. This includes popular examples of virtual pets such as Tamagotchi, the Petz series, and Nintendogs. Social simulation games base their gameplay on the social interaction between multiple artificial lives. The most famous example from this genre is Will Wright's The Sims. Vehicle simulation Vehicle simulation games are a genre of video games which attempt to provide the player with a realistic interpretation of operating various kinds of vehicles. FlightGear, is a flight simulation game. A flight simulation tasks the player with flying an aircraft, usually an airplane, as realistically as possible. Combat flight simulators are the most popular subgenre of simulation. The player controls the plane, not only simulating the act of flying, but also combat situations. There are also civilian flight simulators that do not have the combat aspect. Racing games typically place the player in the driver's seat of a high-performance vehicle and require the player to race against other drivers or sometimes just time. This genre of games is one of the staples of the computer gaming world and many of the earliest computer games created were part of this genre. Emerging in the late 1970s, this genre is still very popular today and continues to push the envelope in terms of graphics and performance. These games "tend to fall into organized racing and imaginary racing categories". Organized racing simulators attempt to "reproduce the experience of driving a racing car or motorcycle in an existing racing class: Indycar, NASCAR, Formula 1, and so on." On the other hand, imaginary racing games involve "imaginary situations, driving madly through cities or the countryside or even fantasy environments". These "imaginary" racing games are sometimes called arcade racing games, in contrast to their more realistic "racing simulation" counterparts. Rollings and Adams note that "racing games are often sold in the sports category," but "from a design standpoint, they really belong in ... vehicle simulations". Space flight simulator games are a subgenre that involve piloting a spacecraft. Space simulators are different from other subgenres, and are not generally considered to be simulators, as their simulated objects do not always exist and often disregard the laws of physics. However, simulators of real spacecraft do exist: Orbiter is one example.